Comedy: With a bang (and not a whimper)

Britains Hollow Men have been catapulted from a pub club onto American TV, says Stephen Armstrong

Comedians are an iconoclastic bunch — except when it comes to careers. Rather like 1970s rockers, they seem to feel that success can only be earned by the paying of certain comedy dues. Anyone who races to the top without being booed off by drunks is somehow suspect. Which is why old stand-ups are likely to be furious with the Hollow Men. This four-strong sketch troupe has just managed to land a successful series on American television within five years of leaving college — and they haven’t even had a programme on British radio yet.

The Hollow Men’s six-part television debut is into its fourth week on Comedy Central, the US cable station that carries the increasingly famous satirical series, The Daily Show. Reviewers have been equally charmed and annoyed by the series, with some hefty internet chatter by the more jingoistic fans, bemoaning the buying of British programmes. In fact, Comedy